1. Field of the Invention
The invention disclosed and embodied herein relates to the synthesis of liquid hydrocarbon fuels and hydrogen from coal or natural gas or related materials. The invention further relates to a thermochemical cycle based on the use of sulfur as an oxidant, the recovery of sulfur and hydrogen from by-product hydrogen sulfide and to a process wherein said synthesis is carried out in the presence of a ZSM-5 type catalyst.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known that aliphatic organic compounds containing oxygen, sulfur, nitrogen and/or halogen constituents may be converted to aromatic hydrocarbons in commercially desirable yields in the presence of zeolites; see U.S. Pat. No. 3,894,103. It is also known that synthesis gas, i.e., mixed carbon monoxide and hydrogen, can be catalytically converted into liquid hydrocarbon fuels such as gasoline boiling range products. However, the products of such reactions are predominantly paraffinic and the product is unsuited for use in modern internal combustion engines; see U.S. Pat. No. 3,894,102. U.S. Pat. No. 3,894,102 discloses a process wherein hetero-organic compounds, RX, where R is an aliphatic moiety and X is a heteroatom such as sulfur, nitrogen, halogen or oxygen may be converted to aromatic hydrocarbons by contacting such compounds with an alumino-silicate zeolite.
Coal shale oil and/or tar sands are some of the raw materials used to provide materials for hydrocarbon conversion but to applicant's knowledge heretofore such technology unlike the present invention has used oxygen rather than sulfur as the oxidant.